Oliver Heaviside (1850 - 1925, England)

- Caught scarlet fever when he was a young child and this affected
his hearing.
- At age 16 he left school. He taught himself Morse code and
electricity. He was helped by his uncle Charles Wheatstone (after whom the
Wheatstone bridge* was named).
- Heaviside introduced operational calculus
to enable him to solve the ordinary DEs which came out of the theory of electrical
circuits. He replaced the differential operator d/dx
by a variable p transforming a differential equation into an algebraic
equation. The solution of the algebraic equation could be transformed back
using conversion tables to give the solution of the original differential
equation.
- Had the idea for an induction coil to increase
induction, but it was patented in 1904 in the United States by AT&T.
- His nails were always exquisitely manicured, and painted a glistening cherry pink...(!)
*Wheatstone bridge, used for determining an unknown resistance:
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